Traditionally central vacuum systems have existed for a number of years now whereby the main machine is located in a remote area location (generally the garage or closet/mud room areas) and a pipe network is run throughout the house to provide a certain number of inlets in order to vacuum a building with the aid of hoses.
More recently, some smaller machines have come onto the market in a variety of shapes and sizes and which predominantly use existing fittings and central vacuum procedures to install and operate these machines and some have integrated fixed dust collectors at the floor level.
Cleaning of non-carpeted surfaces includes using a broom or a vacuum cleaner. Brooms are typically manipulated to sweep the dirt across the surface of a hard finish or non-carpeted floor to be swept into a shovel-shaped dustpan. This practice has always had the shortcoming of requiring some degree of care and dexterity in the manipulation of the dirt collected, particularly in the collection of light dust particles or animal hairs, which are easily distributed by relatively light air currents, such as those generated by the simple movement of the broom itself. Dustpans have typically been constructed of formed sheet metal or plastic configured with a forwardly opening flat bottom, wide scoop and a rearward projecting rigid handle. The manipulation of such device in turn typically requires a considerable degree of bending or stooping on behalf of the operator, an exercise that can be stressful, fatiguing and even painful to those with back problems. While modifications of such dustpans include long handles pivotally carrying the scoop, the operator still needs to concurrently manipulate a long handled broom and dustpan assembly in an effort to guide dirt into the scoop and transfer the dirt into a bin. These difficulties of the use of a broom and conventional dustpan arrangements have led to the design of vacuum cleaners, both of the upright type with a long handle and the horizontal type with long hoses and nozzles. Vacuum cleaning devices which have particular utility for cleaning such floor surfaces of dirt and dust with some degree of ease have certain drawbacks. The drawbacks include difficulties in having to maneuver the vacuum cleaner across a room and between rooms, hose fittings requiring large storage space, and the inconvenience of assembling the vacuum cleaner to clean or to remove small spillages on a regular basis in small areas such as the kitchen.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,977 discloses a vacuum fitting including an opening and a closing position activated by two separate means including an outwardly extending toe lift portion. The unit is not flush with the existing fittings as the toe lift portion extends outwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,858 discloses a vacuum system comprising a floor mounted waste receptacle. This system includes an opening as an inlet to receive debris. The top portion of this system contains a switch which activates the vacuum system.
Both of the above units are not flush with the existing fittings. The system according to the latter patent particularly can be accidentally activated, resulting in damage to the vacuum system.
Furthermore, continuing innovation and new product advancements within the building industry has led to a greater requirement for aesthetic products that do not require a lot of space, are compact, non obtrusive, seamless and not seen by the eye (smooth lined and flush mounted products). Additionally, the new area of building designs incorporates open plan living, whereby the kitchen area has become part of the main living area. Hence, kickboard area that houses the kitchen cupboards and walkways can be visibly seen which has led to a large increase in choice of colours for even kickboard or architraves, which in itself has become a feature of a building to accommodate individual preferences.
Therefore there remains a need for a vacuum assembly that is convenient to use and is aesthetic.